Councillors in Trafford have called for Government action over flash flooding incidents in Timperley where residents are regularly inundated with raw sewage. Homes are being engulfed twice a year with water several feet deep from Fairywell Brook, says local councillor Will Frass.
The properties in Fairbourne Drive, Swaylands Drive, Framingham Road, Woodhouse Lane and Heyes have all been badly affected, he reported. Liberal Democrat Councillor Frass told a meeting of Trafford council that homes that in the past were flooded once a decade are now engulfed twice a year because of the "climate emergency".
However, United Utilities deny that raw sewage is emanating from the brook when it floods as, they say, there is no storm outlet going into it.
Coun Frass blasted what he said was a 75 percent reduction in funding for waterways quality and the practice of "dumping untreated sewage" by water companies and permitted by the Government. In a motion agreed by the council, it called for the "restoration of Environment Agency budgets for river quality monitoring" and an increase in inspections of water companies and farms [over pollution] and the prosecution of offenders.
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It also demanded funding for local and highways authorities to introduce treatment systems to prevent road pollutants from entering water courses. In addition, the resolution called for a "sewage tax" on water companies and other industries which "persist in knowingly polluting our rivers and waterways".
Trafford council also agreed to ask its Flood Resilience Working Group - created in March 2021 - to support the Environment Agency to inspect Fairywell Brook more frequently. It will aim to reduce the build-up of debris that causes the brook to flood and "sewage-contaminated" water to enter residents' homes during floods.
Meanwhile, the leader of the council Andrew Western and the executive member for the environment Coun Stephen Adshead are to write to the Environment Minister George Eustace urging the Government to adopt the authority's proposals. They will also write to the chief executive of United Utilities calling for further action to address the impact of waste-water discharges on local rivers.
The council is also calling on the three MPs who represent Trafford - Sir Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West), Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) and Michael Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) - to support the council's resolutions and advocate a "sewage tax" in Parliament.
Proposing the motion, Coun Frass said: "Every opportunity must be taken to crackdown on environmental injustice, especially at a time when we've all seen Government ministers and MPs demonstrate such indifference towards our natural world.
"It's not just people suffering from the consequences of climate change, it's also the health and ecosystems in our rivers and brooks. Sewage dumping has become endemic across Britain.
"The Government actively allows companies to dump untreated sewage in our waterways and has cut the funding for water quality by 75 per cent. There is a storm sewage outlet into the very brook that keeps flooding these homes. We cannot let our residents suffer the foul consequences of water entering people's homes."
A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “There are no storm overflows in the immediate and upstream vicinity of these addresses and we have not received any recent reports of issues in this area. Storm overflows operate after very heavy rain, acting as a safety valve to prevent the flooding of homes and businesses.
“Since 2000 we have invested £1.2 billion to reduce overflow spill frequency, volume and environmental impact. We are also working with Government, the Environment Agency, councils and other partners to find ways to help reduce the use of overflows.
“We are committed to improving the health of our region’s rivers, and earlier this year we set out our £230 million ‘Better Rivers: Better North West’ plan. This includes a target to reduce the number of spills by storm overflows by at least a third between 2020 and 2025."
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